To the High School and College Drop Outs Here....

[Citizen.Erased]

I dropped out at 16, 6 months before getting my diploma and it was the best thing I ever did because I seriously think that even 6 months would have been too much. I was missing half the classes anyway because I had severe anxiety problems and couldn't sleep at night so I'd stay at home in the morning and go to school in the afternoon.

I went to evening classes at this "adult school" and I got my diploma. It took 2 months.

Best decision ever.

 

[Julianking93]

Clubbing, drinking, relaxing, berach going, and hopefully SSSSSSSSKKKKKYYY DDDDDDIIVVVIIINNNGG

Lucky.

snip

But I did get my GED. I plan on going to college abroad soon as well, so losing education isn't something I'm worried about.

Besides, after leaving school, I can confidently say that I am far more intelligent than I ever could have been in school.

Then clearly you've made the correct decision Julian. I admire you for taking a risky move and sticking to your guns. However I wouldn't condone dropping out as not everyone will share the same successes as you.

Thank you, Sevre.

And no, I wouldn't tell everyone to drop out. Many people have great school careers. I, unfortunately didn't but as I said before, I believe I am more intelligent because of it now that I have the freedom to study what I want.

Plus, I have recently been offered the chance to go to college abroad which is something I'm most likely going to do, so yes, it has worked out for the best.

 

[Kuilui]

I made it through highschool okay although i was nerdy and got some mental abuse out of it. Luckily I had an older brother who was the toughest guy in my entire town. So everyone knew it would be for the best not to try anything with me because they had witnessed his handy work. Anyway back on topic I dropped out of college after a few months and 500 dollars wasted. I then took two years and mainly just screwed around did whatever i wanted etc. It was a break I needed because I was so sick of school. About 7 months ago I finally realized I wanted to continue on with my life so I went back into college. I have been at it for about 5 months now and I'm doing great because I care about it now. So my point is did I initially regret dropping out, yea. Did I in the longer term regret it, heck no.

oh and just as a fun taste of some of the mental abuse I went through in high school. When I just started high school their was a wall in the main lobby where all the new freshman get something said about them (99% of it was nice stuff) mine said "why don't you grow." I'm 5 ft 10 now but my family is all late late bloomers. I was I think 5 ft 1 at the time.. Of course that was just the start of the fun times. I think I repressed a lot of stuff that happened to me because I can't remember much of it.

 

[Xanadu84]

You really can't even begin to compare dropping out of college and dropping out of High School.

College has a much better chance of being enjoyable. Your more on your own, doing your own thing, and it's easier to just stay out of things you want to avoid. There's also a lot of jobs you can do without being completely ignored in the interview if you drop out of college. And most importantly, while having a High School degree is free, or cheap to get a GED, a College degree is extremely expensive. It takes up 4 years you could be working, tens of thousands of dollars, plus things like books. If what you want to do doesn't require a degree (Or at least, not a degree right now) then going to college will just put you in debt, and take away 4 years or so of work experience. But unless you're shooting for the absolute worst of the minimum wage jobs, people will be weary of you if you don't have at least a GED. And actually, even some low level jobs might look on you poorly if you just have a GED instead of a high school diploma.

At the very least, get your GED.

And yes, I know the idea of studying whatever you want sounds great, but it doesn't really work that way. In reality, an employer isn't going to take your word for it that you educated yourself well. Even if you did. They want to see the piece of paper that says you got the education you need, even if that piece of paper isn't worth the paper it's printed on, for all that it matters to what you actually learned.

 

[Ossian]

I took my GED at 19 after being homeschooled, after I took it and passed I was depressed that I waited so long. It was really easy.
Now I'm going to college with a bunch of 17 year olds that are duel enrolling while homeschooling and I'm 20. I'm really mad at myself and my parents for holding me back. (I was lazy, they weren't motivating)

 

[open trap]

Who would bully you furburt, Your way too cool, and have a magical staff.

Pretty much the entire school, sadly. I was a bit of a social pariah.

But, I, uh, what? People not liking Furburt, thats, what? Is that even possible?

 

[-Samurai-]

So my question is to you drop outs; Do you think you made the right choice to leave?

I'll start with a small back story that led to me dropping out of high school.

In the 5th grade I moved and had to go to a new school. I was never bullied or picked on, I had plenty of friends in every classic high school "clique". I was a fairly liked person with no particular group of friends.

I had always struggled a bit in math, but could get everything done if I worked hard. The new school I went to was 1 full year ahead in math, meaning in 5th grade they were doing 6th grade math. That means that I missed the entire 5th year math course. I had no idea what they were doing, and this single quote led to me giving up on school. I told my teacher what they were doing was too advanced for me, and asked for some help after school. She said "It isn't my fault your old school didn't teach you proper math, and I don't have the time to do it. Figure it out yourself or find someone else to help you.".

Right then I decided that if the people teaching me didn't care, I don't care. I made up my mind in 5th grade I wasn't finishing school.

I coasted my way through middle school and dropped out after 2 years of high school.

I enrolled in a G.E.D program and had the equivalent of a high school diploma in less than 2 months. Less than 2 months. I feel like my time at school was wasted if I can do it all in just a few months, and only 3 weeks of that was preparing for the test. The rest was waiting for the next test group. I scored well above average in every subject.

Do I think I made the right choice to leave? Absolutely.

Had I not left, I would have been in high school until they had to force me out for age reasons. Then I'd have no diploma or equivalent of one. It hasn't held me back from getting any jobs(the economy on the other hand...) or getting my own place.

I got out of an environment I didn't enjoy, and would have gained nothing had I stayed.

 

[Captain Pancake]

From what I hear bullying seems so much more extreme in America. Maybe kids just don't know where the boundaries are, like don't pick on the kid in the wheelchair, the kid with mental problems, because that's just sick. Over here people like I get picked on, but not to such an extreme that anybody leaves and it really seems to taper off towards the end of the 6 years of high school. I can't really vouch for the states because I have no honest idea to what it's like over there.

So you think some people can be bullied while others can´t?
No-one should be bullied!

Well, that goes without saying. But while picking on a nerd is sad and pathetic, picking on a disabled kid is just ten different kinds of wrong on top of that.

 

[park92]

A while ago, I started thinking about what if things had gone a bit differently. What if I had taken the opposite choice in my dilemma almost 3 years ago?

I'm referring to my decision to drop out of high school.

When I was a little over 14, I began high school and while I didn't want it to end up as a cliche story of "Nerd get's bullied" it indeed did turn out that way. Almost everyday from the very start, I was ridiculed, beaten, psychologically tormented and didn't have a single friend.

So, after about 5 months of putting up with that shit, I left. I just said "Fuck it" and got the hell out of there.

I only recently began to question my decision and wonder if it was the right thing to do.

Though, I will always stand by my decision to leave as I couldn't cope with what was going on on a daily basis, but I can't help but wonder if overall I made the wrong decision.

So my question is to you drop outs; Do you think you made the right choice to leave?

This is a question aimed at any and all high school or college drop outs who may be here on the Escapist. Your age doesn't matter, what year you dropped out doesn't matter. Only that you indeed did decide to quit school in either high school or College.

Also, even if you didn't drop out, feel free to comment on the subject itself.

bill gates dropped out and look where he's at

 

[sky14kemea]

I dropped out of college. I managed to stick through secondary school though. :/

I dropped out because I was doing very badly in all my subjects (as in, my teachers were telling me at the rate I was going, I would probably fail the exams), I kept having little panic attacks in lessons (Heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, yes I'm being serious).

Anyway, I don't regret dropping out. If I'd dropped out I would've spent almost two years all by myself, watching my grades get worse, and then ended up at the end with pretty much no qualifications anyway. Sure I'm now unemployed >_> but I'm hoping to get a job soon, and work my way up from the bottom, instead of the slightly higher bottom if I'd got a degree in something-or-other.

My friends have stuck with it, and they're all off to Uni, so I'll see how they do and compare. ;D

 

[saviorindeath]

i have a question of my own has anybody got a good result from a teacher or other figure in school when confronted about the infernal teasing and torcher that goes on a daily basis at any said school?

OT: yes i dropped out no i haven't regretted it one bit actually its the best thing i could ive done. had i not dropped out then i wouldn't have got my first job moved out and be as happy as i am now.

 

[Burningsok]

You really need to get back in school. Find some place else, that school seems absolutely terrible.

 

[Red Albatross]

For me, personally, it was the worst decision I ever made, including that one time I stole my parents' car and drove to...eh, well I won't get into that.

I didn't really have a reason other than the fact that I hated school because I had ridiculous notions about it being the brainwashing concentration camp of a corrupt, fascist government. Once I got a bit older and realized that my personal feelings didn't really matter and that I just made things harder on myself, I got my GED.

Another mistake was to think that was enough, so I tried getting into the working world. That wasn't really happening, either, so I'm joining the Navy and going to nuclear power school, and hopefully one day I'd like to go to a four-year university and get a degree in nuclear engineering.

(yeah yeah, cool story bro and whatnot)

Dropping out isn't always a bad idea, but if anyone's reading this and thinking about it...well, think harder, that's all.

 

[philosophicalbastard]

Snip

What you should have done was try and kick there asses at every turn. And I mean something like in the middle of the hall or class you should have just gone up to them and sucker punched them. That way when the bullies give you a much worse beating that some "responsible adult" would realise there wallet was on the line.(Please note I've had no expeirence with bullies in real life)

And dropping out of school doesn't really matter as long as you continue learning through books and other means.

 

[Gigano]

I would only ever think that dropping out of school would be a good idea if there is some alternative way to proceed in the educational system to an acceptable level (i.e. some form of education qualifying for a job). Education really is the master key to a decent life in modern societies.

While bullying is an immense problem (as I'd know from personal experience early on in Middle School), and can severely hurt & scar one psychologically, letting it positively ruin ones entire future is a bad call in the end. If one cannot change schools, be home schooled, or obtain a degree which will grant access to some form of higher education in some other way, then living the nightmare is really all there is to do. But it should rarely have to come to that. It seems quite a few nations have ways to proceed even when the standard system with mandatory class attendance is insufferable.

Some really tough and infuriating stories here. Thankfully some pretty tough people as well.

 

[Eggsnham]

I'm not necessarily bullied, but I do put up with a fair amount of shit from peers and teachers. I also hate school in general (especially anything Math related).

I've considered dropping out several times, but I figure that the benefits of staying in school outweigh the bullshit.

I don't agree that you need a high school and college education to be successful. But if you don't get an education... It's safe to say that it's becoming harder and harder to get anywhere.

I plan to become a writer, but I'll still need a job in order to feed myself until I get famous and everyone has a copy of my book, which is why I stay in school.